The Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) has advertised for applications for the position of Project Officer – Forestry Specialist in its Land Resources Division located at its regional office in Lautoka, Fiji.
The Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) is the Pacific Island region’s principal development organisation. It works with its 22 Pacific Island member countries and territories, providing technical and scientific assistance across a wide range of sectors to enhance economic, environmental, social and human development in this region. The Division – The Land Resources Division provides advice, technical assistance, research and training support to Pacific Island countries and territories on all aspects of agriculture and forestry. This includes: plant protection; conservation; plant genetic resources; animal health and production; agroforestry; biosecurity and trade facilitation; and sustainable systems for agriculture, forestry and land management. This work has three objectives: improved food and nutritional security; integrated and sustainable agricultural and forestry resource management and development; and improved and increased trade in agriculture and forestry products. The division’s services are provided through seven technical/thematic teams: Animal Health and Production, Plant Health, Biosecurity and Trade Facilitation, Forest and Agriculture Diversification, Crop Production, Genetic Resources, and Forest and Trees. It currently has around 90 staff.
The Project - The Reforestation for the degrading foothills of the sugar belt project is a new project funded by the European Union (EU) with a budget of Euro 9 million over a 46 months. It is designed to improve watershed management in the sugar cane belt of Viti Levu (Fiji's largest island) and to generate community income through reforestation. The project aims to reverse on-going soil degradation on the sloping foothills within three specific pilot sugar-cane sectors: Drasa, Koronubu and Malolo.
The role – Under the direction of the Project Manager Reforestation, the Forestry Specialist will be responsible for the coordination of all aspects of the project and for the administration of the EU funding.
The profile – The successful candidate for this position will have a combination of strong technical knowledge, extensive stakeholder liaison experience, and high quality people management skills. Based on the key result areas for this position, this person will need to be able to work autonomously, whilst demonstrating a collaborative and consultative approach when working within the team and dealing with a wide range of stakeholders, including technical advisers, government sector officials and grant recipients. The Project Officer will have exceptional communication skills, with a strong technical forestry and project management background, enabling him/her to achieve high quality outcomes in relation to annual work plans, reporting budgets and policy development.
Applications due 26 March 2015.
